Shadowing Practice: Learn Present Perfect Easily in 9 Minutes - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey guys, welcome to Lingua Marina.
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Let's talk about English students' least favorite tense, which is present perfect, because it is so confusing.
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I was taught at school that present perfect is a past tense, which is not, because if we look at its name,
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it says present perfect, which means that yes, we're talking about our actions in the past,
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but their result is still here with us in the present.
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This is why it's present perfect.
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It's a present tense and it's really important not to mix it up with a past tense.
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It's really important to use it in the right way.
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So today we're going to talk about present perfect.
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One of the most important things to remember about present perfect is that we don't really care when exactly something happened.
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For example, I say I've lost my keys.
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I don't really care if I lost them yesterday.
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I don't really care if I lost them a week ago.
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I care about the result.
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I've lost my keys and I can't get into my house.
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This is the result.
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And so it doesn't matter when exactly the action happened, it matters that the result is still here.
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It's my present.
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I can't get into my house.
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The way we form this tense is that we use either have or has.
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I have, you have, they have, we have, it, she, he, has.
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After that, we use our verb in the third form.
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And here, please pay attention, we have regular verbs where the third form is the same as second and is easily formed by adding ed,
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play, played, played, stopped, stopped, stopped.
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And we have irregular verbs that you have to learn run,
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ran, run, bring, brought, brought, rise, rose, risen.
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So we use the third form.
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And please remember that some regular verbs actually change the way they're written.
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So for example, say, said, said.
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We get rid of Y in the second and third form.
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And we add ID.
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Study, studied, studied.
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So just pay attention to the spelling of those words.
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So we have has or have.
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We have a verb in the third form.
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And if it's a regular verb, we add ed.
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If it's irregular verb, we just learn the third form.
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And very often, we have a word that tells us that we have to use present perfect.
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Ever, never, since, already, yet.
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Remember what I told you? we don't really care about the exact timing of an action.
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So whenever you have a year ago, in 1990, in March 2015,
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that means that you would probably need to use past simple.
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Because again, in present perfect, we don't care about the exact point at time.
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We don't care about the exact day or exact year.
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We just care about the result
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so I have never eaten pizza in my life okay the result
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if I try pizza it's gonna be something new for me
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I've never eaten a taco I've been to Great Britain once
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that means if I go now it wouldn't be a new country for me
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but it doesn't really matter whether I've been in Great Britain in 2015
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or 2020 in this case we use past simple i've been to italy many times also
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when you are taking your toefl test when you're taking your ielts test
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or whatever test that you're taking please do not contract your
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verbs don't say i've been there don't write i've been there please say
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and write i have been there this is formal academic english
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and this is what's required from you when you're taking a formal test
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when you're writing a formal essay of course
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when you're chatting to your friends to your classmates
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when you're recording a video on youtube
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or watching my videos you're free to comment below oh my god i was scared by the slabs
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when you're commenting on this video you can totally contract uh your verbs
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and say i've been there i've enjoyed this video so much i've learned so much from this video
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Marina you're an amazing teacher you are being too modest
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so feel free to contract below this video but please don't use contractions
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when you are taking an academic test the negative form in this tense is formed by adding not
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I have not done this I have not seen this before
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or if you want to make it shorter you can say I haven't done this before I haven't seen this before.
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When you're forming a question in present perfect, this half goes into the beginning of the sentence.
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Have you ever been to the United States?
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If you want to add wh question, your wh word comes first who what
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when whatever what have you done today this wh comes first
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and then you have your have or has
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and then you have your verb
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or how many times have you been to the uk again your question comes first then you have has
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or have and then you have your verb it is really important to learn the word order
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because when you are speaking to a native speaker and And when your intonation is not right, when your word order is not right,
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people might not understand you at all.
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Because when you're talking to native speakers, they are used to talking to other native speakers
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and it might be a little hard for them to understand you
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if you have an accent or if you're mixing up word order.
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This is why whenever you're learning something, please make sure you're learning everything.
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Accent, word order, pronunciation, that's really important in any language.
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Okay, when do we use Present Perfect?
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We use present perfect to talk about actions that started in the past
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or happened in the past and still have effect on our present.
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I've lost my keys, I can't enter the house.
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They've missed the bus, that means they will be late.
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I've already eaten means I'm not hungry.
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So we don't care about when exactly the action happened, we care about the result in present.
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I've lost my money, I've lost my club, and now I've lost my guests.
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We also use present perfect when we talk about our life experiences.
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I've been to the UK.
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I've studied in Germany.
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I've done this so many times before.
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When you talk about your experiences, about things you've done before, you use present perfect.
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I've never driven before.
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Also, if you have an unfinished time word, for example, this year, this week,
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today, and want to talk about actions that have happened in the period that is still ongoing,
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you use present perfect let me give you a couple of examples
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we've already repaired our car twice this year oh my god
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and there might be another repair coming up you've already done so many things today
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you've accomplished so much during this day
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and you still have time to do something else
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you've already slept for five hours today stop sleeping come on time to work
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so whenever we have this ongoing time stamp we use present perfect yeah
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i've already seen someone cry today also quick difference between present perfect
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and past simple if you say i worked here for five years
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that means you're still working here if you say i worked here for five years
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that means you're no longer working here you see the subtle difference in using of tenses makes everything completely different
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and gives a completely different context to a person you're talking to And let me give you a quick exercise.
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He hungry in 1990.
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Which tense would you use here?
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Another example.
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He hungry two times.
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So in the first example, you have past simple because it has a timestamp.
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1990. He visited Hungary in 1990.
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But in the second sentence, you don't have a timestamp, you just have a number of times he has visited Hungary.
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So, he has visited Hungary two times.
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Guys, if you like how I teach you tenses, I have a whole course on English language tenses.
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It's really detailed, really interactive, with a lot of exercises, because once you got information about tenses, you really need to practice them.
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It has a lot of additional materials for you to practice, to learn, to print out, and put on your desk.
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Only for you guys, because you're watching this video and you're watching up to the very end,
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you're getting an exclusive promo code to take my course with a discount.
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The link and the promo code will be below.
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Thank you guys so much for watching this video.
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I'll see you on my course where I will talk about other English language tenses
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and explain them in more details with a lot of exercises.
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So looking forward to seeing you there.
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Please subscribe to this channel if you're learning English
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and haven't subscribed yet because this is one of the mistakes you're making in your English language.
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Like this video if you enjoyed this content.
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I will see you very soon.
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Bye -bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Learn Present Perfect Easily in 9 Minutes”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: present, perfect, tense, verb, word. This video has 133 sentences and 1520 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:09. The speaker talks at a natural 166 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tense noun | /tɛns/ | The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. |
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| formal adjective | /ˈfɔɹməl/ | In accordance with established forms. |
| hungry adjective | /ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/ | Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food. |
| pizza noun | /ˈpi.tsə/ | A baked Italian dish of a thinly rolled bread crust typically topped before baking with tomato sauce, cheese, and other ingredients such as meat or vegetables. |
| repair verb | /ˈɹiːpɛɚ/ | To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy. |
| ongoing adjective | /ɒnˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/ | Continuing, permanent, lasting. |
| accent noun | /ækˈsɛnt/ | A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to… |
| subscribe verb | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name). |
| promo noun | /ˈpɹəʊməʊ/ | A reduction in consumer cost for a limited time for items or services rendered; a special. |
| irregular adjective | /ɪˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/ | Nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations. |
| desk noun | /dɛsk/ | A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a… |
| discount noun | /ˈdɪskaʊnt/ | A reduction in price. |
| essay noun | /ˈɛs.eɪ/ | A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject. |
| stamp noun | /stæmp/ | An act of stamping the foot, paw or hoof. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| look forward to verb | To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to. |
| mix up verb | To mix or blend thoroughly and completely. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- For example, I say I've lost my keys.
- I don't really care if I lost them yesterday.
- I can't get into my house.
- Remember what I told you?
- Which tense would you use here?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've lost · have never eaten · I've never eaten |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was taught · is easily formed · is formed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | tense, which is · perfect, which means |
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | might not understand · might be |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 75 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I've, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, unfinished /ʌnˈfɪnɪʃt/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, contraction /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: irregular /ɪˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/, interactive /ˌɪn.tɚˈæk.tɪv/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tense, verb, formal.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.